The present invention generally pertains to the sealing of oil-well-head pipes and is particularly directed to a method and system for sealing oil-well-head pipes that can be utilized for capping leaking oil wells.
In the prior art, one technique for capping a leaking oil well after a fire, if any, has been extinguished is to lower a weighted cap onto the well-head pipe. If this technique is not utilized, an alternative technique for capping the well is to mechanically crimp the well-head pipe. Mechanical crimping of the pipe is not widely used, however, since mechanical crimping may crack the metal casing of the pipe. Another technique for capping a leaking oil well, which is used when the well is on fire, is the use of explosives. When a leaking oil well is on fire, the fire typically is extinguished by using explosives, and the shock wave produced by the explosives sometimes crimps the pipe shut. However, the explosive shock wave sometimes also leaves cracks in the pipe.